Jay Johnson notched his 200th victory at Arizona in his sixth season and the Wildcats remained neck-and-neck with Oregon in the Pac-12 title hunt with a 12-4 win at Oregon State on Friday night.
Johnson is 200-109 at Arizona and 272-151 overall in his Division I coaching career that includes three seasons at Nevada.
The Wildcats (37-13, 20-8 Pac-12) rallied for eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings to beat Oregon State (32-19, 14-11) at Goss Stadium. This marks just the third time in program history that Arizona has won at least 20 games in conference play.
Arizona Baseball Coaching Wins Leaders
Top Arizona baseball coaches in terms of victories at the school:| Years | Coach | W-L | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973-96 | Jerry Kindall | 860-579-7 | .595 |
| 1950-72 | Frank Sancet | 831-283-8 | .741 |
| 2002-15 | Andy Lopez | 490-324-1 | .601 |
| 1915-49 | J.F. "Pop" McKale | 257-119-8 | .669 |
| 2016-21 | Jay Johnson | 200-109 | .647 |
| 1997-2001 | Jerry Stitt | 157-125 | .557 |
The College World Series championship team of 2012 finished co-champions at 20-10 and Jerry Kindall’s 1989 team won the Six-Pac title with a 23-7 record. That team lost in the regional final at home against Long Beach State.
Friday’s victory kept Arizona in pace with Oregon (35-11, 18-7) atop the Pac-12 standings. The Ducks beat visiting Stanford 2-1 on Friday to remain percentage points over Arizona.
Oregon’s winning percentage in conference games is .720, slightly ahead of Arizona (.714). Because of uneven games played due to COVID-19 protocols, the team with the best winning percentage wins the conference title.
Arizona plays at Oregon State on Saturday at 6 p.m., three hours after Oregon hosts Stanford. The Wildcats will attempt to win a series against the Beavers at Goss Stadium for the first time since 2012, the year of their national title under coach Andy Lopez.
What a damn bat-flip we got right here. Ball was launched. Bat was launched. Wasn’t subtle, but wasn’t too much. Very smooth. (BFG: 8.3) @ArizonaBaseball pic.twitter.com/l4HXpjJDxp
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) May 22, 2021
Arizona broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the seventh on Friday with two outs and the bases loaded, produced by designated hitter Jacob Berry’s two-run single.
The Wildcats scored six more runs in the top of the eighth behind Tyler Casagrande‘s his first career home run in college and Berry’s two-run home run. Branden Boissiere also hit a bases-clearing three-run double.
Berry’s eighth-inning homer was his 14th of the year and his eighth in Pac-12 play, pulling him even with Daniel Susac and Shelley Duncan (1999) for the most home runs by an Arizona freshman in conference games.
Starting pitcher Chase Silseth (8-0) earned the win after working six quality innings for the Wildcats. He allowed four runs on six hits while striking out six and walking two. He persevered through five wild pitches.
The Wildcats’ bullpen held the Beavers scoreless while striking out six in the final three innings. TJ Nichols and Riley Cooper compiled five of those strikeouts and combined to allow just one hit in 1 2/3 innings.
12-4 Cats! pic.twitter.com/8stALDbbQ8
— Jay Johnson (@UACoachJ) May 22, 2021
Top Arizona batters:
DH Jacob Berry: 2-for-5, R, HR, 4 RBI
1B Branden Boissiere: 1-for-3, R, 2B, 4 RBI, BB
LF Mac Bingham: 1-for-2, 2 R, 2 RBI, 3 BB
RF Tyler Casagrande: 1-for-2, R, HR, RBI
CF Donta’ Williams: 1-for-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, 2 BB
Click here to access the box score.
Pac-12 Baseball Standings
As of Arizona's game on April 14| Team | Rec | Pct. | GB | Ovr | Pct. | Stk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 11-5 | .688 | -- | 24-10 | .706 | W2 |
| Oregon State | 10-5 | .667 | 0.5 | 24-7 | .774 | W4 |
| UCLA | 8-4 | .667 | 1.0 | 23-9 | .719 | W1 |
| Stanford | 9-6 | .600 | 1.5 | 18-10 | .643 | W4 |
| Oregon | 7-5 | .583 | 2 | 21-11 | .656 | W2 |
| California | 7-8 | .467 | 3.5 | 16-16 | .500 | W3 |
| Arizona State | 5-7 | .593 | 4 | 15-19 | .441 | W1 |
| Washington | 6-9 | .400 | 4.5 | 18-14-1 | .561 | W1 |
| Utah | 5-8 | .385 | 4.5 | 16-31 | .340 | L1 |
| USC | 4-8 | .333 | 5 | 18-12 | .600 | W1 |
| Washington State | 4-11 | .267 | 6.5 | 12-19 | .387 | L1 |
Friday’s scores
- Arizona 12, Oregon State 4
- Oregon 2, Stanford 1
- ASU 6, USC 2
- Utah 7, Washington 3
- Cal 14, UCLA 2
Saturday’s games
- Arizona at Oregon State, 6 p.m.
- Stanford at Oregon, 3 p.m.
- ASU at USC, 3 p.m.
- Cal at UCLA, 2 p.m.
- Utah at Washington, 3 p.m.
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